


Hunting Season

by acrimsondaisy



Category: The Blank Rune
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Banter, Enemies to Lovers, Humor, M/M, Personalities are a bit exaggerated, everybody has a silly super hero name, making fun of tave is mandatory okay, please read the internal monologue in an overly dramatic batman voice, sorry that this isn't really all that serious :3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28199253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acrimsondaisy/pseuds/acrimsondaisy
Summary: Tave Nelson has been on the hunt for most of his life. For what, he doesn't know. Revenge. Is what he tells himself. Salvation. Is what he dreams about in his darkest nights. Or perhaps even... love? The one thing he can't admit he wants.Written for the Blank Rune gift exchange.
Relationships: Tave Nelson & Rhy Whitefang, Tave Nelson/Liam Maddoch
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Hunting Season

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Blank Rune, Will! I hope you enjoy this! But if you don't, that's okay, too. I've got something else in the works that I just didn't have the time to finish yet!

Tave's black cape fluttered behind him in the evening wind, an eternal shadow, and his own grim reminder that in his line of work, darkness would follow him everywhere. Harrowing. Inescapable. All-consuming.

“What a lovely neighborhood! It's hard to imagine anything untoward happening here at all!”

Well... darkness and his obnoxiously bright-eyed sidekick _Flame Boy_. A part of himself still winced at the name every time he heard it. Did Rhy really not understand what was wrong with it? A part of him suspected he kept it only to provoke him – same as that awful... get up the kid was wearing. Tave refused to call it an outfit. That uncomfortably tight polyester outfit would've been bad enough on its own, even if the colors had been properly muted. But the kid looked like a fucking circus clown. He remembered vividly the way Rhy had phrased it back then _'If you can walk around with a playboy mask, I get to have some glitter.'_ Tave shuddered. It totally with his own all-black thing he had going on, to perfectly blend in with the shadows and all that! Almost ruined the whole effect!

But just almost, Tave had to grudgingly admit Rhy was a damn good distraction and he could hold his own surprisingly well – that was, he was able to hold it at all.

“Appearances can be deceiving,” he replied. Rhy of all people should know that already, “Besides there's a graffiti over there.”

“So artistic!”

“It says 'eat a dick' in Spanish.”

This revelation just made Rhy burst out into a fit of giggles. Tave rolled his eyes, sighed, and lit his second cigarette, silently thanking his past self for deciding to go with a mask that only covered the top of his face – and it wasn't a playboy mask, thank you very much! Not that he planned to tell his annoying side-kick anything about the true meaning behind the dark and twisted rabbit mask he was wearing – or rather, the hare mask. It was specifically a masculine rabbit, after all. It was a corrupted representation of the source of his torment. He didn't flaunt his pain for all to see, didn't talk about it with anyone else like some sort of weakling who couldn't keep his mouth shut.

No, he went out and punched people about it like a real man.

“Soo... do you see any crime, Tave?” Rhy leaned forward on his tippy toes.

“Didn't I tell you that you need to call me by my alias when we're out in public, _Flame Boy_?”

“Oh, sorry! Do you see any crime, Dark Hare?”

Tave shook his head and took another drag of his cigarette. The Dark Hare... Yes, that was the name he had chosen for himself, but truly it was the name that fate thrust upon Tave after it had taken everything he had away from him. Every sliver of hope of achieving even the smallest glimpse of joy and happiness in his life.

For Tave was no simple hero who had risen up out of the pure desire of achieving a better world and defending the lives of innocent people. No, his origins were just as rotten as the ones he fought against. Before he took up his cape and became the Dark Hare, he used to be a lowly criminal. That's just how things went in this hellhole of a city. You're either born lucky or you have to claw your way out of a muddy pit of poverty and drug addiction. And some poor souls never made it out.

Tave had only managed to escape it by the skin of teeth.

It had been a dark and stormy night. He, his bother, and their other criminal buddies had been stationed to guard some drug dealing boss, when a rival gang burst in, guns blazing. He had only heard rumors of the rogue animal mafia before, but in person, they were even more terrifying.

And then, there was the man in the rabbit mask. He had looked right at him before taking his shot, but instead of piercing Tave, the bullet slammed right into his older brother's head, killing him instantly.

His parents, too, had been -

“Um... Dark Hare?” Rhy tugged at his cape, which had him spinning around in an instant, glaring down at his side-kick. “I don't mean to interrupt your brooding, but I think we're under attack.”

As if on cue, Tave felt the ground vibrate around him. His eyes widened as he realized what that meant. He turned around to grab Rhy out of the way, but his sidekick had already jumped to safety, leaving him with only a precious few seconds to leap into the air away from the danger as a car exploded behind him.

“Ah, the Dark Hare, wasn't it? I should've probably expected you to show up here tonight...”

That voice alone made the hairs on Tave's neck stand up straight. He could have recognized that voice anywhere.

“Star...” he hissed as he turned around to look his arch-nemesis in the eye. Every muscle in his body tensed at the sight. The Star was one of the most dangerous and infamous villains in the entire city, wreaking havoc and spreading his toxic influence everywhere he went. At first glance, he looked almost impossibly bright. Until his eyes adjusted Tave could barely stand to even look at the other man. Only then, did the image become clearer.

The most baffling thing was his unimpressive statue. He was about the same height as Rhy and didn't even seem more physically fit than he was. Yet, Tave couldn't help but notice that there was... a certain something about it. The easy confidence and competence he displayed made it clear he was facing a worthy opponent.

“Oh, look it's that guy you're so obsessed with!” Rhy pointed up to where the Star was standing, atop one of the Warehouse buildings, holding a remote control in his hand. His face, just like Tave's own, was half-covered, the top half of his face adorned with a star-shaped mask. The theme went on beneath it, as well, in a constellation of freckles. The smug smirk they surrounded.

“I'm not obsessed with him!” Tave snapped at his side-kick.

“You have a full wall with pictures of him!”

Heat rose to his cheeks. “For research!”

“You talk about him all the time...”

“Rh- _Flame Boy_!”

“What? No need to be embarrassed, You know, I have-”

“He's my arch-nemesis!”

“Uh-huh. And mine's Philli-”

That's not the same thing!”

Rhy held up his hands. “Sorry! Didn't mean to step on your toes there!”

Tave gritted his teeth when another sound startled him into movement again.

“Arch-nemesis? Some might argue that to be a flattering title. I confess that in the practical sense, you usually pose little more than an inconvenience to my plan.”

To this, Tave only raised a single brow. The Star's entire shtick was that he apparently never told a lie – Tave had learned early on that this prohibition didn't include the exploitation of loopholes, lies of omission, or just straight-up manipulation and misleading information. Some principle that was.

“Don't let it get to your head, starlet. My other enemies simply aren't stupid enough to get on my bad side more than once.”

“Curious, then, how I keep eluding you.”

“Maybe you're just too fucking stubborn to die!”

Tave called out his sword and in the same instant, it appeared in his hand, soulbound to him ever since he received it. He used to think it was a shit superpower, but compared to the Star's of 'being unable to lie' and 'glowing a little', Tave wasn't going to complain. All the more infuriating that he hadn't been able to apprehend him, despite this clear power-imbalance in his favor.

“Wait! I'll help you!” Rhy jumped up and shot two small fireballs in the direction of the Star from his hands. His nemesis dodged the projectiles with easy grace, before he stood, straightening his suit again.

“Let's get your little nuisance out of the way, shall we?”

He pulled a lever on the side of his remote and suddenly a dome rose up from the ground beneath, trapping his side-kick inside of it. Flame Boy didn't wait a second, hurling fire at it the moment it appeared, but to no avail.

“I wouldn't say you have high hopes of getting out of there. This dome is completely fireproof, as far as I know.”

Tave narrowed his eyes. “What's your fucking angle here, Star. Let him out of there.”

“I don't really feel like doing that, actually,” he replied evenly, “So if you want to free your little friend, it appears that the best course of action for you to take is to come get it.”

Without hesitation, Tave growled and ran toward the glowing figure, all the while berating himself in the process. He wasn't a goddamn idiot1, he knew the Star had a hidden agenda, that he had provoked Tave deliberately, and at this moment he was playing right into his slimy little hands. But fuck it, that asshole just knew exactly how to push his buttons!

He jumped on top of the door handle and used his momentum to lift himself on top of the warehouse container. Heights were his terrain. How often had he stood there, crouched atop a rooftop overlooking this gutter that called itself a city? Now he stood eye-to-eye with his nemesis. The Star only quirked his lips.

“Seems like things are about to get a little hot in here.”

Anger stirred within him as well as another emotion that Tave made sure to push down again as soon as he detected it. But then he heard a suspicious ticking noise and when he saw the Star pull out a grappling hook to lift himself away from the building that Tave knew he was utterly fucked. He jumped as far as his legs could take him and only barely managed to get a hold of the Star's legs as they were both pulled away before he heard the explosion take off behind him. He could still feel the heat on his back, even as the two of them were lifted through the air. The Star struggled under his grip as Tave held on to him as tightly as he could.

Finally, they came crashing down on a rooftop, elevated even higher than the one they had been on before.

With a crash, Tave landed on top of the other man. As soon as the situation caught up to him, he didn't waste any time taking advantage of it, pinning the Star down beneath him. For a moment he just stared him down, then he let his hand travel below until his fingers made contact with a belt. Beneath him, he felt the Star hold his breath and froze. _Don't make it weird_ , he told himself before his fingers found his target and took the Star's remote control away from him.

“Now I've got you exactly where I want,” he growled, “What's stopping me from killing you now?”

What's stopping you, indeed?” the Star mused, “It seems that every time so far you've had me in a position like this, you've hesitated just a moment too long.”

Tave was just about to respond when he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, followed by a kick in the stomach. Tave rolled over at once, clutching his wound which was just enough of a window for the Star to weasel out of his grasp. _Fuck_.

“It's almost as though you didn't have it in you at all.”

Tave bared his teeth. “Just wait, you glittery son of a bitch. One day I'll take my sword and plunge it into you so deeply that by the time I'm done with you, you'll be nothing but a miserable little puddle on the floor!”

“Come and get me, then, playboy!”

In one heavy swing, he reached backwards to bring his sword down on his enemy, but the Star was quick enough to dodge the attack. Tave let out a frustrated grunt. His side still burned from where the Star had pierced him, but that was barely a scratch, he just had to grit his teeth and get through it.

The other man moved backwards swiftly and effortlessly as though keeping him out of arm's reach was little more than a game to him. Then, the Star struck out against him with his signature scissors, aiming them at his neck. Tave blocked the strike with his sword, but now, the two men were looking each other right in the eye, barely an inch apart.

“Really, Dark Hare, I see little point in you fighting me,” his opponent said, “With your strength and my talent we could achieve much better and brighter thing than you can dream up now. I'd make you my partner – you can trust me on that. I'm the Star, I can't lie!”

Tave pushed him away with one shove of his body. The Star did a three-point landing and then stood up again, raising his hand to deliver-

A sudden noise. A flash of fire, and then, without warning, the ground gave out beneath his feet. Tave felt himself falling backwards. The Star's mouth thinned into a tight, straight line. Everything went past him in a flash, the cold wind hammering against the back of his neck, dizzying and relentless.

Then, in a flash, it was all over, and Tave's heart was almost leaping out of his chest as he looked up at the man who had saved his life.

The Star had his arm around his waist, catching him in mid-air, his other arm hanging by a rope, secured by a grappling hook, keeping them both levitating in the air at this moment that was neither falling nor flying, this liminal space.

Tave didn't dare catch his breath, his heart was beating faster than his mind could keep up with. There were so many questions. Why had he saved him? What did this mean? Where was this going? The Star's face was unreadable behind his mask, then finally, a twitch of his lips.

Fuck, Tave thought, from up close he could count his freckles. If he wasn't careful, he could be hypnotized by that task.

“Don't let anyone kill you, but me. Do you understand that?” the tone of his voice was even, but Tave could feel the tension behind those gritted teeth. “This is between you and me.”

Before Tave had the chance to respond, the Star lowered both of them down on the rope and carefully, almost gently put him down on the ground. “This isn't over yet.”

And with these words, the Star let himself be pulled away by his rope to disappear into the night. Tave knew that he should give chase, that he should pursue him and give him what he deserved. The Star was a ruthless criminal, we should be apprehended at the very least.

But that would've destroyed the moment, wouldn't it?

And so he simply stood there and let him fade away.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Tave I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you! Are you okay?” Rhy raced up to him, almost out of breath.

“I'm fine,” Tave replied without even looking at him.

“Really? You're bleeding!”

“It's nothing,” he grunted, “How'd you get out of that dome anyway? I didn't pull the lever yet.”

Rhy huffed. “I'm not a one-trick-pony, you know!”

Tave gave a low hum. “We should go.”

“But what about the Star?”

Tave gleaned up toward the sky one last time into the direction where he last saw him. The night sky glittered in the distance, inviting him to get lost in its beauty.

“He got away.”

* * *

1Citation needed

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fanfiction for The Blank Rune (https://www.fanfiktion.de/s/5aa6ab4500029f4925c9cfc3/1/The-Blank-Rune) which is a German story that takes inspiration from the Hunger Games. The author of the original work is Herania here on AO3 and I highly encourage you to look up their work here as well, if you're into obscure Russian video games. I plan to translate the original fic eventually, but if you speak German and this intrigued you... Please read it <3)


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